May 30, 1987 - "How about the way Danny Ainge fouled people in that series, but that's OK. Danny fouled me hard right before that. He grabs my shirt and damn near chokes me to death, but that's OK."
That was Isiah Thomas' response when asked about his flying body check in the closing seconds of his team's loss to Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals.
Neither team lost a home game over the course of a heated seven game series perhaps best remembered for Larry Bird's miraculous Game 5 steal and Robert Parish's double karate chop to Bill Laimbeer's face earlier in the same contest. In the fourth quarter of Game 7, Ainge broke a 99-99 tie with a 3-pointer with a shade over three minutes remaining. He added a mid-range jumper in the final minute to help push the Celtics over the precipice. Asked about Ainge's late jump shooting theatrics, Thomas responded, "Fuck Danny Ainge."
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